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Lighting the Way with Literature

My rewritten novel, The Grove of Thorismud, is complete to THE END! I'm making final edits with the help of beta readers--several with expertise in writing, European culture, and/or history that far exceeds my own--and with some gifted advice by an experienced editor, Teresa Crumpton of AuthorSpark. (And she is currently offering free sample manuscript critiques to first-time submitters, so get your work-in-progress a Christmas present!)

EDIT: I have cut 6,000 unnecessary words out of this document. My book just went on the biggest crash diet ever.

My rewrite of Briars and Black Hellebore, which has evolved into The Grove of Thorismud, has taken a much darker turn that feels more aligned with the social unrest happening around us in real life. My sweet romance has become something almost like an anti-romance, in which the characters' disillusionments challenge them to find new reasons to go on living and loving.

Compassion runs deeper than allyship. Some people have more, some people have less or none at all. No one can be shamed into feeling compassion, though they might be scared away from committing acts of harm. We can only nurture compassion where it exists, particularly in our children. That is the job of mothers and fathers, teachers and artists and friends and neighbors during this holiday season, when we yearn for quiet intimacy and peace.

P.S. Happy Black Friday, and I hope you're staying cozy indoors all day, in your jammies, buying nothing and spending time with family. I'm with you in snuggledarity!

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